Chapter 45_Chronicler’s Tale

New World Day 26

Freed from their order of silence, the forest coyotes howled and the goblins shrieked as the majority of the horde charged for the house. I could see a faint white mana leaking from all of their bodies as they began their attack. All of them must have activated something similar to my mana enhancement technique. The hobgoblin and the four bow wielding goblins trailed behind the other 10, intent on staying at range and feeling the situation out. The bow wielders stopped about 100 feet from the house and each drew an arrow from the quiver on their backs. The hobgoblin was smart enough to hide behind the four of them. He was going to use them as meat shields while he kept an eye on how the battle was unfolding. It wasn’t an unexpected move on his part. He had done the same thing that first night I saw him and again during our encounter by the creek. He would only move himself when he absolutely had to move. He wasn’t going to make himself an easy target.

The charging members of the horde were within 50 feet of the house at this point. I could see their faces were distorted into gruesome visages by their battle cries. I kept one eye on the incoming coyote riders, but the majority of my attention was on the four bow wielders. Before the four of them could nock their arrows, I zeroed in on the one that the hobgoblin was hiding behind through the scope on my rifle and fired. The bullet struck the goblin in the chest and the impact sent him spiraling off of his mount. The death of the goblin caused the mounts to paw the ground with quivering paws. I thought I could see a bit of sweat form on the brows of the remaining three bow wielders, but they didn’t panic or dodge as I hoped. That great willpower or more like great fear meant the three remaining bow wielders finished nocking their arrows and loosed them in my direction.

By the time the three arrows were speeding towards me, the 10 charging coyote riders were just a few feet away from the front porch of the house. Slobber and spit came from forest coyotes and goblins alike as they howled and screamed their throats hoarse. A foul stench reminiscent of raw sewage rolled over the house like a wave as they got closer and closer. The stench was enough to almost make me throw up then and there. Did these bastards ever bathe? I could see that a few of the forest coyotes were gathering their legs to jump onto the lower part of the roof while the rest seemed to be prepared to charge into the front porch. I wasn’t sure what they were going to do on the front porch. They could abandon their mounts and climb through the windows, but splitting up like that seemed to be a foolish decision to me. Either way it wouldn’t matter because as soon as the arrows were fired I activated the barriers around the entire house.

A translucent white barrier sprang into being around the house ready to defend me from my enemies. The three arrows struck the barrier with a clang and bounced back to fall harmlessly to the ground. There were only slight nicks in the barrier to show that the arrows had been fired at all. The charging coyote riders beady little eyes widened in surprise and fear when they saw the barrier erupt around the house, and they all yanked on the fur at the base of the forest coyote’s necks to try and stop their mounts before they slammed into the barrier. To my great delight, four of the coyotes didn’t respond quick enough to their riders instructions. Three of the four of them smashed snout first into the ground floor area of the barrier. The last one’s mount was one of the ones that had been preparing to jump onto the lower roof, and it launched itself into the upper floor barrier. I heard a second string of three impacts from the ground floor and smiled. The three goblins whose mounts struck the ground floor barrier must have lost their hold on their mounts and gotten thrown forward into the barrier themselves. The angle from the roof kept me from seeing how badly they were hurt by the impact, but I could hear their cries of pain. I did have a good view of what happened to the one who tried to jump onto the roof. The forest coyote was bounced backward by the barrier and its left side crashed into the ground with a crack. Judging from how the goblin’s face was twisted in pain, I was sure the cracking sound was the rider’s leg breaking as it was caught between the forest coyote and the ground.

While the barrier was busy blocking my enemies, I brought a second bow wielding goblin into my sights. I would have preferred to aim at the hobgoblin, but the second the first bow wielder was slain he danced his mount behind another one of the bow wielders. He was going to keep using them as meat shields until none of them were left. My second shot struck the new target in the chest just like the first. Unlike the first he wasn’t spun off of his mount. He slumped forward dead and his head knocked into the back of the forest coyote’s head. The forest coyote’s ears flattened themselves against the roof of its skull but otherwise didn’t react to its rider’s death. The hobgoblin showed a slight hint of panic as it was forced to dodge behind a third goblin to avoid my aim. I heard him bark an order of some kind, and I thought I saw him make some kind of motion at the two forest coyotes whose riders were dead. Right after his minions heard his order, I saw them spread out in front of the house and then advance forward out of my line of sight to strike the barrier with their clubs, axes, and claws. The barrier would hold for a while yet. It was just a matter of how many of them I could pick off before they broke through.

The banging of clubs and clanging of axes filled the air only to be overpowered by the sound of my rifle as my third rifle shot cut down another bow wielding goblin. The now dead goblin and his remaining compatriot had fired another two arrows at me, but they too left only a couple of scratches on the upper floor barrier. I wanted that hobgoblin dead. So much so, that I ignored the goblins and forest coyotes attacking the ground floor barrier. I drew my sights on the hobgoblin’s last protector, but when I squeezed the trigger, one of the nearby mounts dashed in front and took the bullet meant for the last bow wielder.

That must have been the meaning of the hand motion that the hobgoblin had made. He was telling the two forest coyotes to protect them at all costs. I wasn’t sure why they hadn’t jumped in front of the last bullet as well. Maybe they both guessed wrong about who I was aiming at. That sacrifice allowed the bow wielder to fire two more arrows before my fifth and last round with this rifle took his life. I was amazed at how the four of the bow wielders just stood their on their mounts firing arrows at me. It took a lot of guts to stand there firing arrows as I cut them down one by one. It would have made more sense for their mounts to run and dodge as they fired arrows at me and whittled away at the barrier.

I was puzzled by their actions until I thought about how the hobgoblin had been hiding behind them. Did he order them to stand still so that he could use them as shields? If he just wanted to stay out of danger why didn’t he hide back at the edge of the forest? It was when I tossed the empty rifle onto the roof beside me and picked up the second fully loaded rifle beside me that I received an answer. The hobgoblin recognized his chance to close the distance and sent his mount dashing towards the house while I was still weaponless. I got a good look at the hatred evident on his face as he drew closer. He wanted to be the one to end me. The rest of the horde was just there to exhaust any traps I had prepared for him.

The three remaining mounts from the bow wielding goblins charged alongside the hobgoblin and his mount. His charge was different from any of his minions. His mount weaved forward in a serpentine pattern to make it difficult to aim at him, and the riderless mounts jumped in front of him every few steps in an attempt to block any bullets I might fire at him. I had to try and anticipate both his turns and the jumping of the forest coyotes in order to hit him. My first shot missed him and the three forest coyotes. It tore into the ground a few feet to his right. He had zigged instead of zagged that time. I could see a smug grin flash across the hobgoblin’s face after the bullet missed everyone. Grrr, that smug bastard.

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It was a high stakes guessing game now. Would he keep to the serpentine pattern or would he change the pattern again? Thanks to my mana-boosted speed, I had another two or three shots before he reached the front porch. I had to make them count. As I lined up the second shot, I believed that he would hold to the pattern this time. My instincts were correct, and the second bullet went right for his chest when one of the three forest coyotes jumped in front to take the bullet for him. Damn it! Was it dumb luck that the creature got the timing right? The forest coyote dropped to the ground dead, and the hobgoblin’s mount jumped over it to continue towards the house. I thought that I saw a hint of worry on the hobgoblin’s face after that second shot. He hadn’t expected me to guess right.

There was time for one last shot. My left hand was a blur as I worked the lever and loaded the next round all while I kept him in my sights. Was he going to hold to the pattern or change it up? Hold or change? Hold or change? Hold! I gave him a slight lead and squeezed the trigger a third time. The hobgoblin did as I expected and held to the serpentine pattern. Better than that, the last two forest coyotes failed to block the bullet, but the hobgoblin was a trickier bastard than I gave him credit for. He didn’t make his mount change the pattern, but he shifted his grip on the forest coyote’s fur and let his body slip off of the top of the forest coyote to hug its right flank. The sudden movement caused the round to miss his chest and instead tore a furrow through his left arm. A wince of pain flickered across his face before he let out a triumphant roar. He had dodged the bullet and made it to the front porch while I lost my chance to kill him before he could get close to me.

Unseen by the hobgoblin, a grin spread across my face. Let him roar all he wanted. It wasn’t like I expected to kill him from a distance. I saw how quickly he healed that injury from the shotgun slug during our first encounter. It would have been nice to force him to use some of his mana, but things were still within my expectations. I thinned his numbers a bit, and I eliminated all of his ranged minions. I grabbed the bottle of mana water next to me and chugged all of it. I wiped a few drops from my lip before I dropped it and grabbed the shotgun along with the last three loose slugs for it. I was going to make sure the barrier held longer than they ever expected, and they weren’t going to like what I did with that extra time.

You have reached level 9!

5 bonus stat points have been awarded!

Name: Jason Silver

Job Name: N/A

LVL: 9 7%

Job LVL: N/A 0%

Job Points:

N/A

Titles:

Survivor © LVL 1 12%

Fool © LVL 1 82%

Swarm Killer (B) LVL 9 31%

Beast Killer (B) LVL 9 49%

Risk Taker (B) LVL 9 37%

Repeated Risk Taker © LVL 8 41%

Compassionate Fool © LVL 5 26%

Curious Fool © LVL 5 92%

Stupid Fool © LVL 7 96%

Extremely Stubborn Fool © LVL 5 22%

Greater Mana Wielder ® LVL N/A

Title Points:

*****

Stats:

HP:

MP:

Mana Regen:

Endurance:

Strength:

Speed:

Agility:

Spirit:

Bonus Points:

170/170

164/126

22 per min (-2.75)

Status Effects:

Regen, Spirit Regen, Disease Resist, Parasite Resist, Poison Resist

Skills:

Basic Axe Mastery (B) LVL 9 99%

Basic Gun Mastery (B) LVL 5 95%

Lesser Regen (Passive) (UC) LVL 1 31%

Lesser Mana Control (UC) LVL 1 75%

Greater Mana Vein (Passive) ( R ) LVL 1 0%

Flexible Mana Lake (Passive) (B) LVL 4 64%

Pain Control (B) LVL 4 71%

Fear Control (B) LVL 4 91%

*****

***

Chapter 45

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